Tell Her You Love Her
by RilayaBelacqua
Summary: "I'm going to tell you a story, Riley," Maya says. Riley tilts her head, ready to listen, and reassuringly squeezes Maya's knee as she starts her story. "Once upon a time, there was a Riley and Maya…."
_Tell her a story_

 _Tell her the honest truth_

Maya takes a deep breath and takes Riley's hand, absentmindedly rubbing her thumb over Riley's knuckles as she stares down at their linked hands for several long seconds.

"Peaches?"

Maya blinks and looks up. It's obvious there's something on her mind, but Riley doesn't know what to make of it. She's been acting strangely all day and she's worried that there's something seriously wrong, but Maya had brushed her off earlier when she'd asked about it.

Now, Maya doesn't say anything, but she keeps her hold on Riley's hand and leads her through the apartment to the bay window. She only lets go when she they reach it and she sits down, waiting for Riley to do the same.

"Maya?"

She tries to coax Maya into talking again. Riley reaches out to gently lift Maya's head by her chin as she had so many times before and she smiles encouragingly when their eyes meet. Maya smiles back and her tense shoulders relax slightly.

"I'm going to tell you a story, Riley," Maya says. Riley tilts her head, ready to listen, and reassuringly squeezes Maya's knee as she starts her story. "Once upon a time, there was a Riley and Maya…."

"One day, Maya had run away from home because her parents were fighting, and she didn't know where she was going. She was sad and scared, but she kept walking down the street, and eventually she heard a beautiful voice singing in the apartment building she was passing. The window was open, so she went in and she met her absolute best friend in the world for the first time ever."

Riley smiles, fondly thinking back to that day. "Yeah, I remember, peaches." She says. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm getting there," Maya says. Her eyes flick down to her hand as Riley takes it again and locks their fingers together. "There are a few chapters to this story."

Riley nods. "Okay. What's the next one?"

Maya pauses before continuing, taking the moment of silence to tuck Riley's hair behind her ear with her free hand. Riley is leaning so far forward that Maya can see each of her eyelashes and she quickly retracts her hand, her cheeks burning, when she realizes what she's doing.

"Um-right. One day, a couple of years later, Riley had Maya over to spend the night. They'd spent the night together a lot, but this time was different."

 _You treat her better._

 _Make sure to see it through_

 _Don't be just everything she wants_

 _Be everything she needs_

Maya sat next to Riley on the floor next to her bed, both of them giggling as they made shadow puppets with the light of the moon shining through the window. Riley made a bunny, and Maya made a puppy, and the little shadow animals bounced around each other, playing, until the bunny kissed the puppy on the face and the puppy collapsed in a daze. Riley and Maya fell over each in a fit of laughter.

"Riles?" Maya said after she caught her breath. "Do you think we'll always be able to make each other laugh like this?"

Yeah! Why wouldn't we?" Riley asked.

Maya looked down, her smile beginning to fade. "When I was really little, my mommy and daddy would make each other laugh. Then they stopped, and then my daddy left." She looked back up at Riley. "I don't want you to ever leave."

Riley frowned and wrapped her arms around Maya. "Don't worry, peaches, I'll never leave. We're gonna be old ladies together," she giggled.

Maya smiled again and leaned into the hug. "You promise?"

"Promise!" She pecked Maya on the cheek and grasped her hand. "I love you, so how could we not?"

Maya grinned and ruffled Riley's hair. "Thanks, sunshine. I love you too."

 _When she says she loves you_

 _Tell her you love her, too_

"I don't remember that," Riley says. "I must have said something like that to you a thousand times; what was special about that night?"

"It was the first time we said 'I love you' to each other," Maya says. "I was…I was really down that night. It didn't show much, but I remember feeling like nobody would ever completely love me, not even my mom. I was still convinced my dad leaving was my fault, and I thought that, deep down, my mom blamed me too. I know better now, but I didn't then, and when you told me that we'd always be together…well…." Maya sighs and grins. "I believed you."

"I always keep my promises," Riley says. Their fingers are still intertwined and she grips Maya's hand tighter as if to prove her point. "We may not be old ladies yet, but we're still together now and we'll still be together then."

"I know, honey," Maya says. "The next chapter is when things start to get complicated."

 _Give her a reason,_

 _A reason to love all you do._

 _She'll tell you secrets._

 _You'll tell her secrets, too_

 _She'll tell you all her hopes and dreams_

 _You'll tell them, too_

Maya was thirteen and Riley was twelve when Maya decided she would stop being Riley's friend for her own good. It was the hardest decision she had ever made, and it crushed her inside to say it out loud to Riley, but she'd had it set in her mind that this was what was best.

Riley wouldn't allow it. She took Maya by force, told her she'd save her, and dragged her home with her to talk. Her parents didn't question it; they knew what their daughter was up to, and they knew that she could handle it.

They sat in the bay window with Maya's head resting on Riley's shoulder, Riley combing her fingers through golden-blonde hair and her lips pressed to the top of Maya's head.

"I didn't really want to leave you," Maya said. "I'm sorry I almost did. I don't want to be the one who leaves. I love you."

"I know, peaches," Riley said, shifting to let her cheek rest on Maya's head so that she could speak. "I love you, too." She was silent for a moment before she took a deep breath and said, "You wanna know a secret?"

"Hm?"

"It's actually not much of a secret, but my dad was actually kind of a bad influence on my mom when they were younger. I mean, he had a bad influence of his own, but the two of them constantly got my mom into trouble all the time."

Maya sat up and looked at Riley, narrowing her eyes. "Matthews? No way. He's a square; he couldn't break a rule if he tried."

"It's true!" Riley said. "One time, when they were having trouble with their relationship because of another girl he liked, they got on their teacher's nerves so much that he gave them detention for it."

Maya snorted. "Seriously? He liked another girl and they were so annoying about it that their teacher punished them?"

"Yep," Riley laughed, "and another time, my mom was going on a diet and he thought she was pregnant! He spread rumors all over the place and she had no idea he was doing it; he even got everyone to throw her a congratulations party and she went along with it because she liked the attention, but she eventually realized that was wrong. It was a huge mess, all because of my dad!"

Maya grinned. "That's the most ridiculous story I've ever heard. That really happened?"

"Yeah, peaches, it did," Riley said. "And look, they're still together! They've been best friends their whole lives and my dad having a little bit of a wild side didn't change that." She linked her arm with Maya's and gave her a wide smile. "It won't change us."

Maya blushed, unable to keep from staring at Riley. Her stomach was in knots but she didn't know why, but she eventually broke her gaze away and looked down with a goofy smile on her face. "You're right, Riles," she said. "We'll be best friends our whole lives, too. Thanks for making sure I knew that."

"'Course!" Riley grinned and gently shouldered Maya. "That's what I'm here for, for the rest of our lives, whenever you need it. Forever."

Maya nods. "Yeah," she says. "Forever."

 _When she says she loves you_

 _Tell her you love her, too_

"Wait, you said that this is where it gets complicated," Riley says. "What's so complicated about that?"

"Riley, I love you, but you can be so dense sometimes."

"Well…maybe I have an idea of why it's complicated," Riley says, "but I don't want to say anything in case I'm wrong. Is there another chapter to the story? I want to hear more."

Maya bites her lip and smiles. "Yeah, there's more. You sure you're up for it?"

"Always," Riley says.

 _But don't you run away, run away_

 _When you get tired_

 _'Cause this will slip away, slip away_

 _And start a fire_

 _That can never be put out_

 _Oh, hurry time is running out_

The corral was still foggy with the dust the bull had kicked up, Lucas was being congratulated by his family, and Riley was sitting far away from all of that next to Maya. Maya felt sick; her friend had almost gotten himself hurt, and now Riley was drawing her own conclusions.

"You shouldn't be afraid to tell me anything," Riley was saying. "You're my sister, and I've always wanted a sister."

Maya swallowed the lump forming in her throat and forced herself to nod. "Me too."

"Sisters should tell each other their secrets, don't you think?"

Maya felt like she'd been punched in the gut. She couldn't respond at first, averting her gaze, trying to find words despite knowing there weren't any. Her throat had tightened to the point that she couldn't speak, and Riley took the reins from her when she didn't respond.

"You couldn't watch him because you were afraid something would happen to him," Riley said, "…because you like him. You make fun of him because you like him, and you've never told me that either."

Maya furrowed her brow and studied Riley's face. She couldn't be serious, could she? Did she really think Maya had feelings for Lucas? Maya couldn't deny it, though. She couldn't bring herself to say that Riley was wrong, because then she'd have to explain why. So, she sat in silence, allowing Riley to fill in false details without giving her so much as a reaction.

Maya let her speak, and she remained silent as Riley declared brotherhood to Lucas, and continued to keep her feelings to herself until she and the others were seated around the campfire. She could barely even look at Riley, and when she did, she felt helpless and defeated.

"It's you and me forever, Maya," Riley said, fully prepared to leave her alone with Lucas. "There is nothing that you could ever do to change that."

She turned to leave, walked away, and….

She told Lucas that Maya liked him. She spilled every false detail to Lucas' face, and now the fake secret wasn't just between the two of them. Now it involved Lucas, too, and that made things about a thousand times worse for Maya. She couldn't believe what a mess this had become.

Maya was stunned. She couldn't speak until Riley left, and even then she almost spilled her true secret. "It's bad enough I've been keeping this secret from her all this time," she'd said. She stopped herself, though. She had to. So, she played along with Lucas, forlornly told him she didn't want to keep any more secrets from Riley, almost wishing he'd tug the truth out of her, but he didn't.

Instead, he grabbed her face and almost kissed her. She'd felt her heart stop in that moment, and the next it was trying to hammer out of her chest. This couldn't be happening.

Or was this a good thing? Maybe she could really start to like him. Maybe, if she tried really hard, she could develop real feelings for him. Maybe if she could do that, she could stop stressing over the truth and it could become her truth.

So she tried for months. She thought it was almost working at one point, but it never did, and eventually it started to hurt Riley, too. She had to stop running. She had to tell the truth.

 _But don't you run away, run away_

 _Before you tell her you love her_

Riley continues to stare at Maya after she stops talking, enthralled. She blinks after she realizes Maya isn't going to keep going and hesitates before asking softly, "Maya…are you telling me what I think you're telling me?"

Maya nods slowly. The nerves are making her hands tremble, but she doesn't let go of Riley's hand. She's afraid that if she lets go she'll never get to feel that familiarity again. "Yeah, honey," she says gently. "I made a lot of mistakes. I put us-I put _you_ through things that could have been avoided, but I wasn't ready, and I was scared." She takes a deep breath. "I love you, Riley. I'm in love with you."

 _When she says she needs you_

 _Tell her you need her, too_

 _You tell her clearly_

 _Speak what your heart wants you to_

 _Tell her she's lovely_

 _Always tell her the truth_

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," Maya says before Riley has a chance to speak, "and I'm sorry I started this whole mess with Lucas. I tried so hard to like him, and then you still liked him and I wanted to back out, but you kept pushing us together and I just wanted you to be happy. I should never have lied about liking him. You deserved better than that."

"Maya." Riley reaches out and lifts Maya's chin, flashing a bright smile as their eyes meet. "The Lucas thing was tough, but we got past it. You can't be blamed for not understanding how to handle your feelings; none of us did."

"You're not upset with me." Maya breathes a sigh of relief, allowing herself a small smile. "Thank you, Riley. I never want to do wrong by you."

"You could never," Riley says. "You're the most important person in my life, okay? You come first. Always. When I told you nothing could get between us, I meant it. I need _you_ , Maya, not Lucas."

Maya blinks, her breath caught in her throat. "I-I need you, too," she says.

"You wanna know the truth?" Riley asks. Maya nods, and Riley brushes her fingers from Maya's chin up to her cheek. She leans forward and kisses Maya, their lips brushing softly against each other at first, and then more firmly a second time.

Riley breaks off with a smile and tucks Maya's hair behind her ear. Both of them are flushed and grinning; neither of them had ever been happier. "The truth is, I'm in love with you too."

 _When she says she loves you_

 _Tell her you love her, too_


End file.
